Kees Smit back in Newcastle's sights as Sandro Tonali replacement - Report

Sandro Tonali's Newcastle United stay looks to be coming to an end with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City circling with intent.

It's believed that Spurs are determined to land the Italian this summer and have already made a £75 million bid that was immediately rejected by Newcastle.

They aren't thought to be put off by the rejection, though, as Spurs look to rebuild under Robert De Zerbi after a second consecutive 17th-place finish in the Premier League.

Newcastle have always known that keeping hold of Tonali this summer was going to be a Herculean effort, and it seems as though they are fully prepared to let him move as long as the price is right - somewhere between £90m-£100m.

Kees Smit could be the ideal Sandro Tonali replacement

The issue facing Newcastle is that of replacing Tonali. Even with the money they get from the sale, they still have to find someone who at least has the potential to be as good as Tonali, and then convince them to come to the club over offers from more established silverware-chasing clubs.

Newcastle have a long-standing interest in AZ Alkmaar midfielder Kees Smit, and while they were told that a pursuit in January would be futile, the Magpies wanted to get in early because they knew that there was likely to be a huge battle for his signature in the summer.

With Tonali potentially heading out of ht elcub though, the Daily Mail is now reporting that Newcastle are ready to join the melee for the 20-year-old Dutchman, who wasn't included in the Netherlands' World Cup squad by Ronald Koeman.

Could Smit's World Cup omission help Newcastle?

Missing out on that place at the World Cup may just be enough to keep the heat off him and allow Newcastle a clearer run at him.

Obviously, those clubs who were already eyeing Smit aren't going to just forget about him because he's not on the other side of the Atlantic doing his thing at the World Cup, but his not being there means he's not front and centre in the media.

There was a lot of chatter at the back end of last year that Smit would be open to joining Newcastle, but he and AZ Alkmaar wanted to see out the season before making any decisions.

If the Magpies act quickly and offer good terms, they may actually have a shot of landing Smit this summer, but we're not going to hold our breath, especially after what happened with Victor Munoz.

Rumour Rating: 7/10 - There's definite interest in Kees Smit, but there have been so many other clubs reported as interested that the fight to sign him may be too much for Newcastle.